BANCROFT  LIBRARY 

<> 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


ELEANOR  ASHBY  BANCROFT 


1903-1956 


Graduate  of  the  University  of  California  with  the 
degree  of  B.A.  in  history,  1926,  and  the  Certificate 
of  Librarianship,  1938.  Associated  with  the  Ban- 
croft Library  for  36  years  as  student  assistant, 
reference  librarian,  and  Assistant  to  the  Director, 
Mrs.  Bancroft  attained  wide  recognition  as  a  bibli- 
ographer and  an  authority  on  the  history  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  West.  In  remembrance  of  a  warm 
and  genial  personality,  and  of  long  and  devoted 
service  to  scholarship,  this  gift  is  presented  by  her 
friends. 


<£fe~x^tt<#fe_ 

1 .     J~~(f      I  > . 

*/U>w4iSL^ 


<-AJi^  p-f  fy 


THE  VOYAGE  OF  THE 
OREGON 

FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO 

TO  SANTIAGO  IN 

1898 

AS   TOLD    BY 
ONE  OF  THE  CREW 


TRIfATELT    TAINTED 

THE  MERRYMOUNT  PRESS 

BOSTON 

1908 


[  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  copies  printed  ] 


t>     10      i  lf  p:  t-ff 

GT 

To  the  Reader 


ALMOST  ten  years  have  passed 
since  the  country  followed,  in 
scanty  telegram  from  port  to  port,  the 
Oregon  speeding  down  one  side  of  a  con- 
tinent and  up  the  other  to  Eahia ;  then 
came  two  anxious,  silent  weeks  when  ap- 
prehension and  fear  pictured  four  Span- 
ish cruisers  with  a  pack  of  torpedo  boats 
sailing  out  into  the  west  athwart  the  lone 
ship's  course,  the  suspense  ending  only 
when  tidings  came  of  her  arrival  at 
Jupiter  Inlet;  then  off  Santiago,  after  a 
month  of  waiting,  there  is  the  outcoming 
of  fervera's  squadron,  when  this  splen- 
did ship,  with  steam  all  the  time  up,  leaps 
to  the  front  of  her  sisters  of  the  fleet,  like 
an  unleashed  hound,  and  joins  the  historic 
company  of  the  Bon  Homme  Richard,  the 
Constitution,  the  Hartford,  in  our  naval 
annals.  From  the  start  at  the  Golden 
Gate  to  the  beaching  of  the  Colon  is  a 


To  the  READER 


succession  of  events  full  of  thrilling  merit 
and  vitality  'which  official  bickerings  and 
envying*  cannot  change  or  obscure. 

T*he  story  has  been  told  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  quarter-deck^  the  court  room^ 
and  the  department  bureau.  Here  we 
have  the  artless  journal  of  an  unlettered 
sailor^  written  between  decks ',  without  the 
least  notion  that  it  would  ever  be  read 
apart  from  his  own  family  circle.  The 
pages  of  his  record  give  an  insight  into 
the  mutual  regard  and  confidence  exist- 
ing between  the  captain  and  his  crew 
which  made  the  voyage  the  memorable 
achievement  that  it  was.  Admiral  Clark 
would  be  made  of  stolid  stuff  were  he  in- 
different to  the  enthusiasm  and  loyalty 
manifest  in  the  narrative  in  various  ways^ 
in  none^  however \  more  hearty  and  sin- 
cere than  in  the  endearing  designations 
of  the  "old  gent"  and  "the  old  man" 
He  was  in  faff  ffty-four  years  of  age 

[iv] 


'To  the  READER 


'when  he  became  captain  of  the  Oregon. 
Shortly  before,  he  had  been  on  special 
duty  in  the  North  Pacific  at  the  head 
of  a  fleet  of  seven  men-of-war,  at  that 
time  the  largest  cruising fieet  in  our  navy 
since  the  conflict  'with  the  Confederacy. 
Starting  as  midshipman  at  the  Naval 
Academy  in  1860,  he  had  seen  thirty- 
eight  years  of  active  and  varied  service 
in  all  seas.  In  the  contest  with  Spain 
the  commanders  of  the  various  warships 
were  his  associates  at  the  academy.  Samp- 
son had  been  his  instructor  there ;  Grid- 
ley,  who  opened  the  battle  of  Manila,  and 
Cook,  who  received  the  surrender  of  the 
Colon,  were  classmates ;  and  Day  ton,  who 
rendered  distinguished  service  at  San 
yuan,  was  a  relative.  In  the  transition 
from  wood  to  iron  in  naval  architecture 
he  has  had  command  in  every  type  of 
fighting  craft  beginning  with  the  wooden 
Ossipee,  when  he  took  part  at  Mobile  Bay 

[v] 


'To  the  READER 


in  ramming  the  ironclad  Tennessee,  and, 
as  ensign  in  charge  of  the  forward  guns, 
was  the  first  to  exchange  words  with 
the  latter  s  commander  as  he  came  out  of 
the  casemate  to  surrender  his  ship,  and 
ending  with  the  Oregon. 

'The  narrative  which  follows  of  the 
voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Santiago 
in  1898  was  called  to  light  by  a  com- 
munication of  Admiral  Clark  to  the  press 
in  the  winter  of  1 907  relating  to  the 
Straits  of  Magellan.  The  writer  of  the 
narrative,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Oregon' s  crew,  sent  it  to  his  sisters 
through  whom  in  consequence  of  reading 
the  Admiral' s  mention  of  that  ship' s 
passage  of  the  Straits,  it  came  to  him. 
The  Admiral  in  turn  showed  it  to  friends, 
who  insisted  that  copies  should  be  printed 
for  private  distribution. 

JOHN  ADAMS  AIKEN 

Greenfield,  Massachusetts 
February  29,  1908 


The  Voyage  of  the 
OREGON 


The  Voyage  of  the 
OREGON 

SO  we  started  on  the  I9th  of  March 
and  I  will  try  and  give  you  some 
idea  of  our  trip  on  this  side  of  the  U.  S. 
Capt  McCommick  got  sick  and  had  to 
be  releived  to  go  on  sick  leif.  Capt 
Clark  was  in  comand  of  the  Monteray 
at  the  time  and  he  was  a  young  Capt  too. 
there  was  no  other  one  around  there  at 
that  time,  so  he  was  detailed  to  take 
comand  of  the  Oregon  and  a  prowed 
man  he  was  too,  and  we  wer  a  prowed 
crew  along  with  him.  he  was  glad  he 
got  the  ship  and  we  wer  glad  we  got  him. 
we  knew  he  was  a  good  Seaman,  any 
way  he  called  us  all  aft  on  the  quarter 
deck  and  read  out  his  orders  and  told  us 
that  we  wer  going  towards  south  Ame- 
rica. I  will  now  try  and  give  you  the 
trip. 

March  19.  1898  Up  anchor  at  8  A.  M. 
in  San  Francisco  Bay.  I  had  the  8  to  12 
watch  and  we  past  through  the  Golden 
Gate  at  9.15  A.  M.  and  left  the  Fairwell 
Bouy  at  10.5  A.  M.  and  shaped  our 
course  for  Callao5Peru,it  being  S.  E.  j£  E, 
and  at  the  same  time  we  drop  over  the 

[3] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

Patent  Log  in  the  Briny,  the  Capt  gave 
orders  to  give  75  turns  and  that  brought 
her  out  about  1  1.5  knots.  Every  thing 
is  runing  smooth  and  all  Hunk. 

March  20.  Sliding  along  at  n.8  knots 
gate.  Every  thing  working  beautyfull. 
nothing  of  interest  going  on,  except  the 
fine  Wether. 

March  21.  Changed  course  at  10.  A.  M 
to  S.  E.  Will  not  put  down  any  thing 
for  some  time  to  come  as  there  is  nothing 
unusal  going  on,  But  I  wonder  if  we 
will  get  there  to  catch  up  with  the  Band 
Wagon. 


4  Arived  at  Callao,  Peru,  5.30 
A.  M.,  very  pleasant  trip  all  the  way 
down  the  coast,  we  are  doing  quick  work 
so  far.  started  to  coal  ship  at  8  A.  M. 
and  as  soon  as  we  get  enough  on  board 
we  will  pull  right  out  for  the  straights  of 
Magellan  and  there  join  the  Marietta, 
our  little  Gun  Boat,  which  will  scout  the 
straights  for  us  in  case  there  is  a  Spanish 
Torpedo  Boat  in  one  of  the  Many  Coves. 
She  can  go  in  shallow  water  as  she  is  a 
light  draft  boat  and  at  the  same  time 
order  coal  for  us. 

[4] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

We  have  allready  made  one  of  the 
grandest  runs  on  record.  Just  think  of 
it,  a  First  Class  Battle  Ship  making  4800 
miles  in  just  16  days  and  used  900  Tons 
of  Coal,  That  being  the  longest  trip  on 
record  for  a  First  Class  Battle  Ship. 


il  5.  We  are  now  laying  over  an  old 
city  in  Peru,  they  say  when  some  of 
the  ships  hoist  there  anchor  they  some- 
times rais  some  of  the  old  houses  or  part 
of  them  with  the  anchor.  This  old  place 
is  some  109  years  old,  the  Old  Callao, 
I  mean.  109  years  ago  they  had  an 
Earthquake  and  Tidle  Wave  hear  to- 
gather  and  did  up  the  city.  The  public 
hear  speak  nothing  but  Spanish  and  the 
Capt  thinks  there  might  be  som  sympa- 
thizers amongst  Them,  so  we  are  keep- 
ing the  strickest  Kind  of  watch  on  the 
ship.  We  have  two  steam  cutters  pat- 
troling  the  ship  all  night  and  men  sta- 
tion in  the  fighting  tops  as  sharp  shooters. 
the  steam  cutters  are  armed  with  two 
automatic  22  m.m.  Rifles,  so  that  would 
more  than  be  a  match  for  a  ordinary  Tor- 
pedo Boat,  and  while  all  the  Post  on 
Deck  were  Double  we  consider  our  selves 
pretty  safe.  They  are  puting  coal  on 

[5] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

board  as  fast  as  they  can,  working  night 
and  day  to  get  it  all  on.  we  are  going 
to  take  a  big  lot  this  time. 


6.  Pay  day  today,  put  on  Sea 
stors  today  along  with  the  coal,  it  all  gos 
togather.  But  what  is  the  diferance,  this 
is  War  times  and  we  are  trying  to  get  in 
it  and  I  think  we  will  if  we  get  a  show. 
I  bought  a  nice  pair  of  shoes  today  for 
3.50  in  U.  S.  Gold,  there  is  no  liberty 
to  any  one  hear  so  we  have  to  buy  some- 
thing that  is  some  good  to  us.  Expect 
to  coal  ship  all  night  so  as  to  pull  out 
to  morrow. 


/y.  Got  all  the  coal  on  this  morning 
at  4  A.M.  there  is  about  1750  tons  on 
now,  never  had  so  much  on  before,  got 
100  tons  on  deck  in  sacks,  we  are 
knocking  some  of  the  coal  dust  off  the 
sides.  She  is  a  very  dirty  ship  now  and 
expect  to  remain  so  for  a  long  time  to 
come.  There  is  some  talk  of  a  Spanish 
Gun  Boat  or  a  Torpedo  Boat  in  the 
Straights  waiting  for  us.  But  I  think 
that  will  be  all  right  when  the  Marietta 
gets  there  to  patrole  the  place  for  us. 
We  expect  to  go  out  to  night  some  time. 
7  p.m.  left  Port.  The  Capt  dont  know 
6 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

wether  to  go  round  the  Horn  or  not. 
But  if  we  go,  as  the  Dutchman  says  By 
the  Horn  around,  we  will  get  a  shaking 
up.  But  every  body  seems  to  think  we 
can  take  care  of  our  selves  where  ever 
we  go.  Capt  Clark  is  all  right,  we  dont 
think  he  is  afraid  of  the  whole  Spanish 
Navy,  the  wether  is  very  fogy.  Expedt 
it  to  lift  when  we  get  a  little  ways. 


9.  Alls  Well,  every  thing  doing 
fine. 


10.  Just  came  on  watch;  have  all 
four  boilers  on  now  and  we  are  peging 
along  at  a  13.7  and  a  14  knot  gate,  you 
dont  know  you  are  at  sea  in  this  ship  if 
you  would  stop  between  Decks,  guess 
there  is  not  much  doing  to  day,  so  I  will 
steal  forward  for  a  while  the  old  gent 
sleeps  a  little.  I  forgot  to  speak  of  hav- 
ing a  little  practis  with  the  6  pounders. 
They  threw  over  Boxes  and  barrels  and 
as  we  would  get  away  from  them  we 
would  fire  on  them  for  Torpedo  Boats. 
we  did  some  good  shooting.  All  the 
Marines  Man  the  seccondary  Battry. 
The  Capt  got  the  chief  engineer  to  fix 
the  8  inch  turets  to  turn  in  Board  9  more 
[  7  ] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

degrees  so  as  to  shoot  over  the  stern  of 
the  ship.  So  that  would  bring  to  bear 
on  one  point  2,  13  inch  Guns  4,  8  inch 
Guns  2,  6  inch  Guns  and  six  6  Pounders 
aft,  and  the  same  forward.  We  could 
shoot  for  a  Broad  side  4,  13  inch  4,  8 
inch  2,  6  inch  and  about  12,  6  Pound- 
ers on  either  side. 

Of  corse  this  is  Sunday  and  we  all 
ought  to  be  good.  But  we  will  be  as 
good  as  we  can  By  having  a  Gen  feild 
day  and  clean  up  a  little,  as  this  is  the 
first  chance  we  have  had  to  do  any  scrub- 
ing  since  we  left  San  Francisco,  Cal.  I 
think  we  will  meet  the  Marietta  in  the 
Straights  of  Magellan,  we  have  found 
some  grate  Bars  for  her  under  the  coal 
dust.  We  all  think  Capt  Clark  is  going 
to  be  a  ring  tail  snorter  for  fighting.  I 
dont  think  it  will  be  easy  to  whip  him, 
he  seems  to  be  so  quick  to  catch  on  to 
every  little  thing,  he  is  all  over  the  ship 
at  once  and  he  talks  to  every  body,  stops 
any  one  to  ask  them  any  thing  he  wants 
to  know  about  the  ship,  he  is  very 
quick  to  take  the  advantage  of  every 
little  thing. 

ii.  Very  heavy  wether.    Wind 
[  8] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

Blowing  Great  Guns  and  a  head  sea.  But 
we  are  Bucking  it  and  making  u.6 
knots,  the  Capt  dont  think  we  will  run 
up  against  any  thing  in  the  shape  of  a 
Torpedo  Boat  in  the  Straights.  We  had 
some  more  Practis  today  with  the  6 
Pounders  and  did  some  good  work.  I 
think  we  could  make  it  very  interesting 
for  a  Torpedo  Boat.  I  dont  see  how 
they  could  get  at  us,  unless  it  was  in  the 
night  and  then  there  would  have  to  be 
somthing  the  matter  with  our  search 
lights  and  all  hands  on  Board  would 
have  to  have  the  "  Buck  Feaver." 

cx/pr/7  12.  We  lost  a  little  today  on  ac- 
count of  the  forward  13  inch  Turet, 
somthing  got  Jamed.  all  going  well 
once  more,  and  still  bucking  a  head  sea 
and  making  11.7  knots  right  along. 
4  P.M.  Heavy  wind  has  turned  into  a 
gale,  but  she  is  like  a  Duck  on  a  Mill 
Pond  and  still  making  10  knots,  Gale  or 
no  Gale,  she  has  not  roled  over  10  de- 
grees since  we  left  Port  Orchard,  Wash. 

<s/fpril  1 5.  Whooping  her  up  for  all  she  is 
worth,  want  to  make  all  she  can.  Wether 
is  fine  but  quite  Cold.     Making  all  the 
way  from  14  to  15  knots. 
9  ] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


1  6.  Everything  is  still  doing  well, 
and  still  going  a  mill  tail.  Passed  Smiths 
Straights  the  first  part  of  this  morning, 
early,  and  in  the  fog  that  has  Just  come 
on  we  are  still  going  it.  the  fog  raised 
for  a  while  and  showed  us  the  Destination 
Island,  and  then  we  wer  shure  we  had  only 
30  miles  to  go  to  get  in  the  Straights. 
Just  at  Dark  we  droped  our  mud  hook  in 
just  45  fathoms  of  water  in  the  entrence 
of  the  Straights  of  Magellan.  9.45  P.M. 
had  the  8  to  12  watch  and  She  more  than 
blew.  I  thought  the  ship  would  drift. 
But  she  held  on  like  grim  Deth  to  a 
dead  nigger.  The  wind  Blowed  so  hard 
I  expected  to  be  lifted  off  my  feet. 


17.  Making  all  posable  speed  to 
Sandy  Point,  making  about  15  knots 
ever  since  we  started  this  morning.  12 

0  clock  Midday,  there  is  some  of  the 
most  beautyfull  and  grandest  sights  I 
have  ever  had  the  pleasure  to  look  upon. 

1  am  shure  if  I  could  only  write  on  the 
subject  I  could  make  it  very  interesting. 
I  never  seen  such  beautyfull  wild  nature 
in  all  my  travels;  there  is  mountain  after 
mountain  of  Glacier  and  they  seem  to 
have  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  it  was 

[  10] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

a  little  cold  too  and  the  whole  Moun- 
tains sparkled  like  diamonds.  6.  P.M. 
drop  anchor  in  the  Harber  of  Sandy 
Point,  Chili.  Had  the  public  bin  able 
to  see  us,  They  would  not  stop  runing 
for  the  next  week  to  come,  for  we  cleard 
ship  for  action  and  had  the  guns  all  loaded 
up  and  ready  for  buisness  and  to  Blaze 
away  at  any  thing  that  looked  as  thoe  it 
wanted  to  fight.  Capt  Clark  belives  in 
for  warned  for  armed,  and  takes  no 
chances,  had  the  two  Steam  Cutters 
patroling  the  ship  as  usual. 

She  made  one  of  the  grandest  runs  on 
record,  for  1 1  hours  making  an  average 
of  1 5^  knots;  it  knocks  the  Worlds 
record  sky  high.  Just  think  of  a  first 
Class  Battle  Ship  making  15^  knots 
for  1 1  straight  hours  on  a  straight  away 
run,  and  we  all  think  she  could  beat  that 
time.  But  we  had  over  the  bow  2  an- 
chors with  the  flukes  of  both  in  the  water 
3  feet.  I  am  sure  that  held  her  Back 
i  tenths  of  a  knot.  And  the  Marietta 
is  not  hear,  the  Capt  dont  know  what 
has  becom  of  her. 

*April  1 8.  Well  the  Marietta  is  hear  this 
morning,  she  came  in  at  1 2. 1 5  this  morn- 

t  ii  ] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

ing.  She  was  in  the  straights  when  we 
past  her,  she  was  laying  off  in  one  of  the 
coves  waiting  for  us,  the  man  on  look- 
out sighted  us  as  we  pased  her,  and  told 
his  capt  and  he  said  let  her  go,  we  will 
up  anchor  and  overhall  her  in  a  short 
time,  it  hapened  that  the  lookout  was 
on  board  of  the  Oregon  and  he  told  his 
Capt  that  the  Marietta  could  never  catch 
the  Oregon.  Well  any  way  she  came  in 
a  little  affter  midnight. 

The  first  thing  this  morning  we  started 
to  coal  up.  I  havent  found  out  how 
many  tons  we  are  going  to  take  hear. 
But  the  price  is  $25  a  ton.  I  think  we 
will  take  about  800  tons,  all  the  men 
on  the  Marietta  say  they  had  a  very 
rough  trip.  We  are  in  a  great  rush  to 
get  out  of  hear.  Capt  Clark  asked  Capt 
Simons  if  he  had  any  towing  Bits.  Looks 
as  thoe  we  were  going  to  snake  him  along 
with  us.  I  am  detailed  to  go  into  the 
righting  top  to  night  as  capt  of  one 
Pounder  and  look  out,  we  have  a  double 
watch  on  now  all  the  time  and  it  makes 
the  Duty  very  hard  thies  war  times. 


19.  Still  coaling  up,  was  workin 
all  night  to  night,  expect  to  be  throug 

[    12] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

to  night  sometime.  Puting  on  sea  stors 
along  with  the  coal.  Meat,  Can  goods, 
coal  dust,  all  mixed  up  togather.  What 
is  the  defirance,  it  all  goes  thies  times. 
The  Marietta  had  some  trouble  in  get- 
ing  coal  to  day.  She  only  got  40  tons 
since  i  A.M.  this  morning,  so  Capt 
Clark  ordered  him  to  go  along  side  of 
the  Coal  Hulk  and  take  all  he  wanted, 
for  Capt  sais  we  must  have  the  coal  and 
therefor  must  take  it  as  we  are  going  out 
of  hear  to  morrow.  3.30  P.M.  there  was 
an  Argentine  Gun  Boat  came  in  Port  and 
I  would  not  be  suprised  to  see  a  scrap 
hear  before  we  heft.  Chili  and  Argentine 
are  in  hot  disput  over  this  place,  it  seems 
they  both  clame  it  to  there  Boundry  line. 
Chili  sent  a  company  of  Soldiers  hear 
the  1 8th  and  they  expect  a  Transport 
with  som  Soldiers  from  Argentine  to 
night  som  time,  so  I  for  one  would  like 
to  see  a  good  scrap  of  som  kind  for  an 
appetizer  for  us,  Just  to  take  the  rough 
edge  off  you  know,  we  are  standing  by 
our  Guns  all  the  time  and  sleep  by  them 
by  night.  While  the  Jackies  coal  ship 
all  hands  are  doing  there  part  and  there 
is  no  fudging  going  on.  of  corse  there 
is  all  kinds  of  War  talk  in  the  air. 

[  13] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


20.  At  12.30  A.M  still  coaling  up. 
Every  thing  working  smooth  and  no- 
thing to  stop,  it  is  a  beautyfull  night  and 
the  Southern  Cross  looms  up  with  more 
beauty  than  I  ever  seen  befor.  But  the 
ships  bum  Boat  is  all  right  too,  she 
loomed  up  with  a  big  ketle  of  hot  Steam- 
ing cocoa,  Just  the  thing  a  man  wants 
when  he  has  the  mid  watch,  the  wether 
is  very  cold  down  hear,  a  few  of  the  men 
is  going  ashore  to  morrow.  I  dont  think 
I  will  be  able  to  go  as  I  will  have  the 
afternoon  watch,  any  way  I  dont  care 
much  as  I  am  use  to  the  ship  now.  I 
could  stay  hear  for  a  year.  I  wish  we 
wer  around  to  Key  West  so  as  to  be 
with  the  Band  wagon  when  she  starts. 
Mr.  Giles,  Midshipman,  is  a  very  sick 
man,  he  was  taken  ill  in  the  Cabin  this 
morning.  I  went  for  the  Doctor  for  him 
at  1.45  A.M.  Doc  said  he  had  a  hemor- 
rhage of  the  lungs  caused  by  concus- 
sion. 3.  A.M.  he  is  asleep  and  doing  fine 
now.  I  woulden  like  to  see  him  die,  he  is 
a  fine  fellow.  3.45  A.M.  coal  all  on  board. 
4.30  P.M.  the  Capt  is  on  the  warpath, 
he  is  mader  than  a  wet  hen  for  he  tryed 
to  get  out  of  hear  by  2  P.M  to  day,  But 
could  not  on  the  account  of  the  Marietta 

t  HI 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

having  some  trouble  with  her  coal,  so  we 
both  go  tomorrow  morning  at  daybreak. 


il  21.  Called  all  hands  at  5.30  A.M. 
and  up  anchor  at  6.  A.M.  I  called  the 
old  man  at  5.40  A.M.  Signaled  over 
to  pullout  and  we  are  tailing  on  behind 
untill  we  get  out  of  the  Straights,  going 
about  10  knots;  at  6  Bells  met  a  steamer 
Bound  for  Klondyke,  we  drop  a  whale 
boat  and  sent  our  Boarding  officer  to  find 
out  the  news  if  there  was  any  But  was 
disapointed.  She  had  no  news,  she  was 
1  5  days  from  Rio  de  Janeiro.  7.30  P.M. 
All  is  going  well.  The  Marietta  is  astern 
now  and  likely  to  remain  so  untill  we 
get  in  the  next  Port,  we  past  another 
steamer  about  3  P.M.  and  when  I  go  on 
watch  to  night  at  8  I  will  try  and  find 
out  something  about  her.  Came  off  at 
12  midnight  and  she  signaled  to  us  no 
news  of  War.  We  have  to  go  slow  on 
account  of  the  Marietta,  had  some  tar- 
gate  practis  today  with  all  the  Guns.  We 
travel  at  nights  with  all  lights  out  now 
adays  so  as  not  to  let  any  thing  slip  up 
on  us,  and  at  the  same  time  slip  up  on 
them. 

vfpri!  22.  Wind  is  very  high,  lost  a  life 
[  15  ] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

Boat  this  morning  at  5.20  A.M.  from  the 
after  Davits,  good  thing  the  wind  is  head 
on,  the  Sea  is  runing  high.  8  P.M.  Sea 
and  wind  has  gon  down  considerable. 
Making  about  ioj^  knots.  Ellis  is  sick 
poor  man,  I  am  standing  his  watch  to 
night.  1  1  .45  P.  M.  going  about  the  same 
and  all  is  well. 


23.  I  think  we  will  have  a  dash  of 
Gen  Quarters,  Just  to  shake  the  Boys 
up.  the  old  man  is  anxious  to  have  tar- 
gate  Praclis,  he  believes  this  ship  whips 
the  shoes  off  any  thing  that  floats  in  the 
line  of  Battle  ships,  of  corse  Baring  a 
Torpedo  if  one  should  hapen  to  hit,  and 
I  think  the  old  man  is  right  too,  for  this 
crew  feals  scrapy  now.  I  think  we  would 
fight  fer  Keeps.  Had  Gen  Quarters  in 
the  morning  and  Church  in  the  afternoon. 


24.  All  is  well,  at  12  Oclock  noon 
to  day  we  wer  in  Lat.  44°  23  m  and 
Lon  57°  48m.  had  some  fire  drill  to 
day  mixed  with  a  little  collision  drill. 

tA-pril  25.  4  A.M.  Just  came  on  watch 
and  I  am  going  on  deck  to  get  a  cup  of 
cocoa  to  wake  me  up  abit.  the  old  man 
is  in  the  Chart  house  snoozing,  so  I  guess 

[  16] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

it  is  safe  to  go.  Every  thing  has  settled 
down  to  the  same  old  thing  except  when 
we  have  some  Targate  Practis  By  throw- 
ing boxes  over  board. 


16.  8  A.M.  All  is  well,  same  thing, 
Making  ioj£  sometimes  1  1  knots.  Had 
clear  ship  for  action  today. 

sA-pril  27.  Every  body  begins  to  feal  the 
trip  now,  geting  tiresome  now.  since 
they  have  taken  all  of  our  ditty  Boxes  and 
benches  and  all  extra  mess  chests  and 
stored  them  away,  we  have  no  place  to 
sit  down  except  on  deck  and  let  our  feet 
hang  over,  then  the  men  forward  cant 
get  enough  water  to  keep  themselves 
clean.  I  am  more  lucky  than  most  of 
them  for  I  have  a  chance  to  steal  a 
Bucketful  one  every  night,  our  cook  is 
no  good,  he  makes  sour  Bread  and  would 
make  good  schrapnel  for  clearing  the 
decks,  and  of  corse  your  humble  servant 
has  to  chew  Hard  Tack,  had  more  Tar- 
gate  practis  to  day. 

tApril  28.  good  stiff  Breeze  to  day.  Ex- 
pect to  have  more  targate  practis  to  day 
with  ful  charges  of  amanition;  no  practis, 
wind  too  high. 

[  17] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


29.  good  day  to  day,  guess  we  will 
have  it  to  day,  no  we  dont  have  it.  the 
old  man  has  changed  his  mind  and  we 
will  try  and  make  Port  to  morrow. 


30.  Started  to  pul  out  this  morn- 
ing at  5.30  A.M,  useing  forsed  draught, 
making  14.5  knots,  going  to  try  and 
make  it  by  4  P.M,  have  a  head  wind  and 
light  head  sea.  Droped  anchor  at  3  P.M. 
in  the  beautyfull  harber  of  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, and  befor  the  Mud  hook  struck 
the  botom  we  had  the  news  that  war  was 
declared  on  the  2ist  of  April  1898,  the 
very  day  we  puled  out  of  Sandy  Point. 
as  soon  as  every  thing  was  put  to  order 
we  Broke  out  the  Band  to  give  us  the 
Star  Spangled  Baner,  and  the  Crew  diden 
do  a  thing  But  yell  and  whoop  her  up, 
so  they  had  to  play  it  over  4  times.  The 
Marietta  got  in  at  7  P.M.  The  Forts 
at  this  place  were  not  going  to  let  her  in. 
But  when  they  see  her  Signal  they  let  her 
pass  O.K.  started  to  coal  up  at  8.25  P.M. 
and  we  get  out  of  hear  as  soon  as  we 
can.  I  hear  the  Spanish  has  got  one  of 
our  Merchant  ships,  the  Shanandore, 
loaded  with  English  goods.  I  wonder 
how  that  is  going  to  com  out.  Every 

[  '8] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

one  on  this  ship  is  crasie  to  get  at  the 
Spanish. 

{May  i.  Just  com  on  watch.  Beautyfull 
morning  and  still  coaling  ship.  Hear  is 
where  you  can  get  lots  of  sour  frute  and 
Bananas  by  the  ship  load  for  a  little 
mony.  But  we  are  not  aloud  to  Buy 
any  thing  that  isent  sour  on  account  of 
Yellow  Feaver  at  this  place.  The  Bra- 
zilian soldiers  stop  up  all  night  to  be  up 
erly  in  the  morning;  they  started  to  give 
us  Revelee  about  3  Oclock  this  morn- 
ing, diden  get  through  until  4  A.M.  it 
sounds  very  pretty  early  in  the  morning 
when  you  are  all  ready  awake,  and  such 
a  beautyfull  morning  as  this  is  you  can 
hear  the  echo  of  the  drums  up  in  the  hils 
far  away.  You  would  all  most  wish  you 
could  stop  hear  all  the  time  and  be  a 
Brazilian  for  good.  But  I  coulden  leave 
my  Dear  land  for  all  the  pretty  sights 
Ive  seen  togather. 

^May  2.  American  Minerster  Just  com 
on  board  and  told  us  the  news  of  the 
Battle  of  Manila,  the  Yanks  did  up  every 
thing  there,  coal  is  coming  on  very  slow 
and  the  old  man  is  geting  ancious  to  get 
out. 

[  '9] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


3.  gong  out  tomorrow  mornng  at 
6.  A.M.  The  crew  is  very  enthusiastic 
over  the  war.  got  out  this  morning  all 
right  But  going  slow.  I  think  we  are 
fooling  around  hear.  Have  Nictheroy 
as  a  transport  boat.  She  has  2000  tons  of 
coal  on  Board  for  us  and  they  say  she  is 
an  1  8  knoter. 

{May  4.  I  guess  the  war  is  on  for  keeps 
now.  We  have  com  back  to  Rio  or  near 
it  to  wate  for  a  Spanish  Torpedo  Boat 
that  has  bin  laying  around  hear  for  the 
last  3  days  and  at  the  same  time  to  take 
the  Nidheroy. 


5.  lost  some  time  waiting  for  the 
Nictheroy  But  she  came  along  at  dark. 
the  Marietta  will  look  out  for  her  and 
we  will  pull  out  for  Key  West  I  think. 

{May  6.  Every  thing  doing  well  and  mak- 
ing 10  and  ii  knots  right  off  the  reel 
now.  at  8  P.M.  the  old  man  called  all 
the  Ward  Room  officers  in  the  Cabin  and 
read  the  tellegrams  to  them  from  Wash- 
ington Which  wer  his  sealed  Orders  and 
one  of  them  reads  like  this:  four  armered 
Crusiers  left  Cape  de  Verde  at  some  date 
and  2  Torpedo  Boats,  Destination  un- 

[20] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

known,  and  the  old  man  is  told  to  be- 
ware. The  old  man  had  a  consul  of  War 
to  night,  so  if  we  have  to  scrap,  we  will 
have  to  cut  a  lively  gate  for  them,  they 
say  the  Spanish  is  some  Kind  of  a  fighter 
him  self.  But  we  all  think  we  can  show 
him  a  trick  with  a  hole  in  it.  that  was 
a  great  fight  of  the  Manilla  bay. 


7.  Every  thing  doing  well,  except 
this  morning  at  4.  50  A.M.  Gen  Quarters 
sounded  and  there  was  a  lively  old  time 
for  a  while.  Every  body  thought  we  wer 
in  for  it  then  and  there.  I  cannot  de- 
scribe the  fealing  of  enthusiasm  about  the 
Decks,  you  see  we  had  our  orders  to 
send  in  a  Gen  alarm  when  ever  any  thing 
looked  like  a  Manowar  got  in  sight. 
there  was  a  little  rain  squall  and  some 
old  sailing  ship  was  in  it,  and  just  as  she 
cleared  away  our  lookout  sighted  the 
ship  and  sent  in  the  alarm;  it  was  the 
Capts  orders  to  send  in  the  alarm  even 
if  he  was  not  there  as  he  would  get 
there  all  right,  at  9  A.M  the  old  man 
called  all  hands  to  muster  on  the  Quarter 
deck  and  told  us  the  news  he  had  re- 
ceived at  Rio:  there  was  4  first  class 
cruisers  and  three  Torpedo  Boats  going 

[21    ] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

to  meet  around  hear  some  where  and  do 
us  up.  we  all  expect  they  will  if  they  can, 
But  the  pruf  of  the  Puding  is  the  eating 
of  it  and  we  will  have  something  to  say 
about  that.  And  after  telling  us  about  the 
fleet  that  was  going  to  whip  the  socks  off 
us  he  made  a  little  speach  to  us;  he  said 
of  corse  it  was  his  duty  to  the  Goverment 
to  get  the  ship  around  on  the  other  side 
and  stear  clear  of  the  fleet  if  posable. 
But  in  case  he  did  meet  the  fleet  he  was 
sure  Spain's  fighting  efficiency  on  the  sea 
would  be  demineshed.  So  we  all  gave 
him  three  rousen  Cheers  and  the  old  man 
Blushed,  but  he  is  a  dandy  Just  the  same. 


8.  got  to  Bahia,  Bra.  at  8.30  P.M. 
after  making  a  good  run  and  having 
Targate  praclis  with  full  charges  of  Pow- 
der, don  some  fine  shooting  with  the  Big 
Guns.  I  dont  think  it  will  be  a  bit  too 
healthy  for  the  Spanish  to  bump  up 
against  us,  for  we  have  a  good  eye.  We 
put  in  hear  as  an  excuse  to  put  on  War 
paint  saying  our  engines  wer  Brok  down 
and  at  the  same  time  to  get  more  coal 
if  we  can. 


9.  Put  on  War  paint  to  day  and  we 
are  out  for  it  now.     we  have  the  ship 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

cleared  for  action  now  for  keeps,  got 
some  coal  and  fresh  water,  filed  up  with 
every  thing  we  wanted,  at  8  P.M.  the 
old  man  got  telagram  and  at  10  P.M. 
we  wer  on  our  corse  for  the  West  Indias. 


10.  going  along  smooth  and  no- 
thing doing. 


ii.  still  expect  to  meet  that  fleet 
and  if  we  do  meet  them  there  is  going 
to  be  a  "Hot  time  in  the  old  town  to 
night." 

{May  12.  Every  thing  the  same,  some  of 
us  think  we  past  through  the  fleet  last 
night,  there  wer  several  lights  all  around 
and  acted  Mighty  quer. 

{May  13.  Nothing  doing  and  will  wate 
untill  we  get  in  Port. 

{May  1  8.  got  into  Barbadoes  at  4  A.M. 
this  morning  and  found  lots  of  war  talk 
going  on;  we  are  puting  on  coal  Just  now, 
expect  to  go  out  of  hear  to  morrow  morn- 
ing erly.  8  P.M.  up  anchor  once  more 
after  geting  250  tons  of  coal  on  and  ready 
for  buisness.  Guess  the  Spanish  dont 
want  any  of  this  craft,  it  seems  we  will  get 
there  without  firering  a  shot. 

[23  1 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

iMay  24.  arived  at  Jupiter  light  house 
after  making  a  flank  movement  to  the 
northard  and  not  a  ship  to  be  seen. 


25.  up  anchor  once  more  for  Key 
West,  got  there  on  the  26th;  of  corse 
the  Capt  dident  know  how  things  stud 
so  he  had  to  go  slow.  About  4.30  A.M. 
the  man  on  the  life  Bouy  gave  the  alarm, 
saying  there  was  a  small  dark  objict  com- 
ing this  way;  the  Officer  of  the  Deck 
roused  up  the  Capt  and  the  next  thing 
we  knew  Gen  Quarters  sounded.  What 
should  it  be  But  the  tug  with  our  Pilot 
on  board  for  us,  the  "Hudson"  was  the 
name  of  the  tug. 


y  27.  still  puting  on  coal,  expect  to 
go  down  to  Cuba  with  the  New  York. 

June  i.  I  herd  the  first  shot  in  this  war 
to  day,  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  with  the 
flying  squadron. 

June  2.  we  had  a  wild  goose  chase. 

June  3.  nothing  doing  but  laying  off  hear 
and  watching  what  looks  like  to  me  a  big 
hole  in  the  grond.  same  thing  the  4th 
and  5th. 

[24] 


VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


June  6.  Stand  from  under,  we  Bombard 
the  forts  and  water  Baterys  to  day  for  4 
hours  but  dont  know  how  much  damage 
we  don. 

June  7.  staying  out  hear  and  doing  no- 
thing. 

June  8.  same  thing. 
June  9.     "        " 

June  10.  we  went  down  to  Guantanamo 
Bay  to  put  some  coal  on  and  landed  40 
Marines  in  the  Morning,  we  wer  the 
first  to  put  foot  ori  Cuban  soil  in  this 
war.  The  9th  the  Marblehead  and  Dol- 
phin Bombarded  the  place  and  made 
them  look  like  Munkys;  they  ran  away 
and  left  every  thing  behind  them. 

June  1  1  .  came  back  to  Santiago  on  the 
loth,  and  laying  off  hear  as  befor. 

June  12.  Same  old  thing.  Expecting 
Troops  every  day. 

June  13.  Dito. 

June  14.  the  New  Orleans  was  ordered 
to  run  in  close  to  the  shore  and  do  som 
Bombarding  By  her  self  Just  to  break 

[25] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

the  Monotony  and  to  let  us  believe  we 
wer  at  war.  we  don  a  good  Job  all  right, 
she  silenced  the  east  Battry  and  the  west 
one  too,  and  made  them  show  up  a  water 
Battry  which  we  did  not  know  any  thing 
about,  havent  herd  how  many  got  kild 
or  wounded  on  the  other  side.  But  I 
know  they  never  hert  any  one  on  this 
side.  Got  some  news  from  Guantanamo 
to  day.  Col.  Huntington  and  his  Ma- 
rines of  800  Had  a  Brush  with  the 
Spanish,  it  is  reported  that  6  marines  wer 
kild  and  Doctor  Gibbs  was  shot  through 
the  head  by  accident,  there  is  at  Guan- 
tanamo Bay  the  Texas,  Marblehead  and 
Porter  and  800  Marines;  they  expect  to 
have  the  cable  work  soon  and  the  Harbor 
well  under  Hand.  I  forgot  to  say  the 
Vesuvius  landed  3  shots  of  dinomite  in 
the  Harbor  on  the  night  of  the  i3th  at 
Santiago  and  did  great  damage  to  the 
Shore  Battery s;  the  latest  report  is  that 
the  Cubans  are  flocking  in  to  Hunting- 
tons  camp. 

June  15.  coaling  ship  and  still  retain  our 
posision  on  the  Blockade. 

June  16.  At  3.30  A.M.  this  morning  all 
hands  was  called  and  the  coffie  was  passed 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

around  with  som  hardtack  and  cand  Beef 
at  4  A.M.  Turn  to,  some  15  or  20 
Minutes  later  Gen  Quarters  sounded. 
Then  we  went  at  it  to  try  and  see  if  we 
could  not  knock  thoes  Batterys  off  the 
earth.  Bombarded  untill  7.15  A.M.  No- 
body knows  how  much  damage  was  don, 
except  we  silinced  all  the  Batterys  they 
had  and  made  them  show  up  a  nother 
one  inside  of  the  harbor  of  which  there 
seems  to  be  lots  of  them.  I  will  say 
right  hear  that  if  we  take  this  place  its 
going  to  be  a  hot  old  Job,  and  som  of 
us  will  think  we  run  up  against  a  Hornets 
nest  when  we  get  in  side,  they  have 
been  talking  of  forsing  the  Chanell  and 
Capt  Clark  signaled  over  to  the  flag  ship 
and  asked  permishion  to  take  the  leed, 
and  I  am  sure  we  will  stay  with  him  as 
long  as  the  ship  floats  for  we  love  him. 
The  Vesuvius  fired  three  more  shots  last 
night  at  about  12.  dont  know  what 
damage  was  don  But  I  know  we  are  all 
tired  of  this  fooling,  if  they  would  only 
send  some  soldiers  down  here  from  the 
regular  army,  say  6  Regiments  of  Infantry 
and  3  of  Cavalry,  I  think,  with  what  we 
could  put  up,  that  forse  would  more  than 
be  a  match  for  them  and  take  the  place 

[27] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

with  all  ease.  The  latest  Bulitin  of  the 
day  is  that  the  Forses  at  Guantanamo 
have  bin  Joined  by  some  Cubans  and 
had  a  Brush  with  the  Spanish,  and  the 
report  is  that  40  wer  kild  on  the  Spanish 
side  and  17  taken  prisoners  of  war,  one 
Spanish  Lut.  2  Corp  and  14  Privates. 
On  our  side  3  Cubans  Kild  and  2 
wounded,  3  Marines  wounded  and  17 
overcome  by  the  heat.  But  all  recovered. 
Routed  the  Spanish  and  distroyed  the 
water  suply  and  Block  House.  The 
Dolphin  held  there  posision  from  the 
water  frount  and  the  Texas  sunk  2  small 
Gun  boats. 

June  17.  come  down  to  Guantanamo  Bay 
this  morning,  put  some  300  tons  of  coal 
on  and  throde  some  shells  over  in  an  old 
Fort  and  then  puled  out  right  away  for 
Santiago. 

June  20.  Bully  for  the  Soldiers,  they  are 
hear  at  last,  "I  thought  they  would  com 
tomorrow,"  some  of  the  papers  say  there 
is  20.000  of  them,  that  is  enough  to  eat 
the  plase  up  for  lunch.  Well  I  hope  we 
will  soon  crack  this  nut  that  is  so  hard 
to  crack.  I  hear  there  is  1 5000  Spanish 
soldiers  over  hear. 

[28] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

June  22.  the  soldiers  are  landing  all  O.  K. 
and  doing  well,  and  only  a  few  horses 
and  2  men  lost  so  far,  so  the  Flag  Ship 
says. 

June  26.  Started  in  this  morning  to  see 
if  we  coulden  knock  down  that  Spanish 
old  Morro  or  else  knock  somthing 
cruckit  around  it.  Well  we  pelted  away 
for  an  hour  or  more  and  the  flag  ship  sig- 
naled over  to  the  Iowa  to  close  in  and 
pump  at  the  Smith  Key  Battry.  The  Iowa 
signaled  Back  that  her  forward  Turet  was 
out  of  order,  so  it  fel  to  us,  we  went  in 
to  700  yards  of  the  shore  Battry  and  did 
knock  down  the  Spanish  flag  with  an  8 
inch  shell  and  knocked  over  one  of  there 
Big  Guns.  I  belive  if  the  flag  ship  had 
not  called  us  off  Capt  Clark  would  have 
went  in  along  side  of  old  Morro  and  give 
him  a  tutching  up. 

June  28.  I  am  geting  tired  of  trying  to 
keep  cases  on  this  thing,  there  is  no- 
thing doing  but  laying  around  hear  like 
a  lot  of  sharks  watching  for  a  fish. 

July  4.  The  fish  has  come  out  to  see  us. 
On  the  3rd  the  Spanish  fleet  came  out 
of  the  Harbor  to  fight  and  get  a  way  if 

[29] 


'The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

posable.  (I  would  have  put  this  down 
on  the  3rd  But  I  dident  have  time  and 
was  too  tired  that  night  so  I  put  it  off 
for  today.)  Well  the  Fleet  came  out  and 
went  to  Davy  Joneses  locker,  it  was  Just 
9.25  A.M.,  first  call  had  sounded  on  our 
ship  for  Quarters  and  we  all  had  our  best 
dudds  on;  we  wer  going  to  listen  to  the 
Articles  of  War  this  morning  and  to  have 
chirch  right  affter,  But  we  never  did.  all 
of  a  suden  the  Ordly  on  watch  made  a 
dive  for  the  Cabin  head  first,  and  told 
the  old  man  the  Fleet  was  coming  out 
of  the  Harbor,  the  old  man  jumpt  up 
a  standing,  as  soon  as  some  of  the  men 
seen  the  ships  there,  they  went  to  there 
Quarters  with  out  any  further  delay.  I 
was  standing  on  the  Quarter  Deck  wait- 
ing for  the  last  call  to  go.  I  heard  the 
news  and  looking  around  the  affterTerets 
seen  the  first  one.  I  thought  she  looked 
Biger  than  a  Mountain.  But  then  I 
thought  affterwards  we  could  cut  her  down 
to  her  natchral  size,  of  corse  it  takes 
longer  to  tell  about  it  than  it  taken  us  to 
get  ready,  for  we  wer  allways  ready,  and 
all  we  had  to  do  was  to  sound  the  Bells 
and  stand  By  our  Guns,  they  wer  allways 
loaded  so  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  turn 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

on  the  fors  draught  and  pull  the  triger. 
By  9.27  the  Oregon  fired  the  first  shot 
of  the  Battle  of  July  3rd.  1898  at  the 
first  ship  that  come  out  of  the  Harbor. 
I  dont  remember  the  ships  as  they  come 
out,  But  we  went  in  to  meet  them  and 
passed  them  som  good  shots  as  they 
cep  coming,  about  7  or  9  minuts  after 
they  got  started  good,  one  of  our  6  inch 
guns  blew  up  one  of  the  Torpedo  Boats, 
struck  her  squar  amidships,  she  sunk 
like  a  rock  with  all  on  board,  and  right 
hear  is  where  I  had  to  stop  for  a  moment 
to  admire  one  of  there  Guners.  I  do 
think  he  was  one  of  the  bravest  men  I 
ever  had  the  pleasure  to  look  upon. 
That  man  must  have  known  he  was  go- 
ing to  a  shure  Deth,  he  stud  on  Deck 
and  cep  firing  at  us  all  the  time,  and  the 
last  time  I  seen  him  he  was  Just  going 
up  in  the  air.  As  the  ships  came  out  of 
the  harbor  they  sircled  to  the  right,  or 
Westward,  and  Capt  Clark  knew  they 
were  trying  to  escape,  they  did  not  think 
the  old  Oregon  was  such  a  runer  as  she 
was  a  fighter,  so  we  Just  tailed  on  with 
them  and  giving  them  shot  for  shot.  In 
about  20  minuts  the  first  ship  went  on 
the  Beach,  plumb  knocked  out,  and  15 
[  3'  ] 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

minuts  later  the  secon  one  went  on  the 
Beach,  a  short  ways  from  the  first.  Then 
came  the  tug  of  war  for  we  had  to  run 
to  catch  the  Vizcaya  and  the  Colon,  but 
we  catched  them  both,  the  Vizcaya  was 
about  4000  yards  ahead  and  the  Colon 
was  about  3  miles  ahead,  and  the  poor 
men  in  the  fireroom  was  working  like 
horses,  and  to  cheer  them  up  we  passed 
the  word  down  the  ventlators  how  things 
was  going  on,  and  they  passed  the  word 
back  if  we  would  cut  them  down  they 
would  get  us  to  where  we  could  do  it.  So 
we  got  in  rainge  of  the  Vizcaya  and  we 
sent  her  ashore  with  the  secondary  Bat- 
try  and  6  inch  guns,  and  then  we  settled 
down  for  a  good  chase  for  the  Colon.  I 
thought  she  was  going  to  run  a  way  from 
us.  But  she  had  to  make  a  curv  and  we 
headed  for  a  point  that  she  had  to  come  out 
at.  We  all  think  there  is  no  man  in  the 
Navy  like  Capt  Clark,  he  is  a  Brave  man, 
he  stud  on  the  Forward  13  inch  turet 
through  the  thickest  of  this  fight  and 
direfted  his  ship  to  the  final  results. 

Coming  back  to  Santiago  we  waited 
untill  we  got  to  where  the  first  ship  went 
on  the  Beach  and  there  fired  the  national 
salut.  We  have  3  Spanish  prisoners  on 


The  VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 

board  and  they  thought  we  wer  at  it  a 
gain,  and  it  was  all  the  sick  Bay  man 
could  do  as  to  quiet  them.  I  hear  there 
is  over  1800  Prisoners  and  650  kild  and 
800  wounded  on  the  third,  the  three 
men  on  board  tells  the  sickbayman  that 
we  run  through  there  fleet  coming  around 
hear,  for  the  next  day  they  found  a  Pork 
Barrel  ful  of  holes  and  had  marked  on 
the  head  U.  S.  S.  Oregon.  We  all  seem 
to  think  we  could  take  care  of  our  selves 
Just  the  same,  it  is  Just  6.50  P.M.  now 
and  the  men  all  say  there  is  no  flag  fly- 
ing on  the  Morro.  But  I  can  see  Just 
as  good  as  any  and  I  can  not  see  any 
either,  But  then  I  think  we  are  out  too  far. 

July  5.  At  about  11.45  tne  danger  Sig- 
nal was  flashed  by  the  lookout  from  the 
Massachusetts,  she  being  the  one  to  show 
her  serchlight  at  the  entrance  of  the  Har- 
bor for  the  night,  the  Spanish  was  trying 
to  sink  one  of  there  old  ships  in  the  Chanel 
so  as  not  to  let  us  in.  But  Just  3  or  4 
shots  from  the  Massachusetts  Big  13  inch 
Guns  help  them  to  do  the  Job,  for  she 
sunk  befor  they  got  to  the  Chanal.  there 
is  Spanish  menowar  and  Torpedo  boats 
strung  all  along  the  Beach  for  60  miles. 

[33] 


VOYAGE  of  the  OREGON 


July  10.  We  are  laying  off  now  in  Guan- 
tanamo  Bay  filing  out  to  go  to  Porto 
Rico  or  on  the  Coast  of  Spain. 

This  is  all  in  regards  to  the  trip  of 
the  Oregon. 

R.  CROSS 


